This Course is Over, But the Learning Continues

As I began this course, I must admit that I was somewhat apprehensive. Thus far, I have been able to directly apply all the new learning I have acquired in my courses. I was not so sure if that would be the case with this course. Much to my surprise, not only has this course provided me with essential knowledge, but a new realization about the students we teach and myself. The articles in this course proved to be quite insightful and eye opening. The concepts of digital natives and digital immigrants, the description of the 21^st century learner, digital citizenship, etc. prompted me to not only ask myself if we were in compliance with state expectations, but if we were fulfilling our responsibility of preparing our students to compete and succeed in today’s society. We always have the best of intentions, but often times we find that things that are planned in our Campus Improvement Plans are not always put into practice. This is the case with technology. As an instructional leader on my campus, it is my responsibility to be sure that this does not happen. Thanks to this course, I have made it my mission to ensure that technology is no longer an afterthought on our campus.

What caused this change? As I began this course, I still shared my principal’s view. “How can our teachers worry about technology when their students cannot even read?” (Asberry, 2009) Then I began reading the articles and completing the assignments. It got to the point where I forgot I was working on a class assignment, and it just became part of my job. The conversations I have had with my principal, Leadership Team, Campus Technology Instructional Specialist and teachers have been very reflective and purposeful as a result of this class. We have reanalyzed data and questioned if our current technology practices are effective. I must admit some of the discussions have ruffled some feathers. As several of the articles we have read discussed; today’s students learn differently. What does this mean? This means that we need to reform our instructional practices in order to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the 21^st century learner. This is not what is happening right now. The current expectation is that students adapt to our instructional delivery. This takes us back to my principal’s question. I have to answer her question with a question, “Is the reason our students are having difficulty because we are not teaching them the way they learn?” This could be part of the problem.

As I stated earlier, the course assignments became more than just assignments for me. When working on the second week’s assignment, I was shocked with our campus’ STaR Chart data. How could we possibly be decreasing in our level of progress in the area of Learning and Teaching? The more I reviewed data and reflected the answer became obvious. We are using technology, but it is not being integrated into the content areas. It is not being used for creating and problem solving. The majority of the time that students utilize technology is being spent working on tutorial software. I shared my power point presentation with my principal, and we have planned to present it in January. In addition, I have shared my professional development and evaluation plan with my principal. We are going to use this as a basis for adjustments to our Campus Improvement Plan.

Do I consider myself a digital immigrant? At first, I did not think so, but the more I read and learned, I believe that I am in a unique situation. I am a “tween.” I am not young enough to know it all, but I am not closed to new technologies. I think the most insight came from the student interviews. As I listened to their answers, I had to ask myself, “What am I doing as an instructional leader to help ensure that our students are acquiring and mastering the essential technology skills needed for them to succeed in today’s society?” The answer was simple. I was not doing enough. I would never ask my teachers to do something that I am not doing. I am not a “do as I say not as I do” leader. I am a “practice what you preach” leader. This meant that I not only had to stress the significance of integrating technology but I also had to model what it would look like in the classroom. This is exactly what I have done. I have started integrating technology into my weekly professional development. Of course, I am taking baby steps, but I have heard positive comments regarding the use of technology. One teacher said, “If I was excited to be listening, imagine how motivating it would be for my students.” (Robin, Konecny – 3^rd Grade Teacher, 2009)

I do have to say that the technology integration that I am most proud of is my blog. I just created it last week, but I am really excited about its possibilities. I shared it with my teachers during last week’s professional development. The focus of my blog is our weekly professional development learning, but, as I told the teachers, it will provide us with another opportunity for collaboration and reflection. I would never have created a blog had it not been for this class. To be honest, I was not too excited about creating a blog for this course. I did not see how creating a blog could possibly benefit me. Now, having read the articles regarding blogs and having created a blog for this class, I understand how a blog could benefit a school, classroom, teachers, etc. First and foremost, it is a tool for collaboration. In addition, blogging provides the opportunity for its users to increase and share their knowledge. Blogging allows students to learn from one another. Students are no longer just consumers of knowledge, but producers of knowledge. Although blogging is a powerful learning tool, it does have potential dangers. As we have learned, the chance for sexual predators or cyber bullying exists. There is also the fact that no matter how effective we think filters may be, students seem to access inappropriate material. They may also share inappropriate material. This is why we need to not only educate our students in online safety but we need to monitor student blogs when used in class. There will always be concerns, but this should not keep us from blogging or utilizing other technologies. After discussing my blog with a 4^th grade teacher, she created a classroom blog so students could share their reflections regarding Superfudge, the novel they are currently reading.

This course has sparked a fire in me, and my hope is to spark this fire in others. I am confident that we are headed in the right direction. Our focus is student success, and I know that we will work on acquiring “digital citizenship” in order to provide our students with quality instruction integrating technology.

Technology Goal: By May 2010, Neal Elementary will increase its level of progress in the STaR Chart area of Teaching and Learning from developing technology to advanced technology as a result of increased integration of technology into the content areas.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Action	Description	Resources
District Differentiated Professional Development Plan	Teachers are given a technology professional development plan based on their level of proficiency as determined by the technology self-assessment. Teachers are given the opportunity to choose how they will complete their required hours of training and what topics they will learn.	· Noreen Dooley, Neal Elementary Technology Instructional Specialist · Online training available 24/7 · After-school Technology Trainings · Technology Self-Assessment
Development of 2 personal technology SMART goals	Master teacher will conduct a professional development session reviewing STaR Chart data. Teachers will be asked to reflect over integration of technology into the content areas. Based on their level of proficiency and level of current integration, teachers will be asked to develop two goals in order to increase the integration of technology into the content areas.	· Master Teacher · STaR Chart data · Power Point
Development of Technology Learning Community	Master teacher will invite teachers who are integrating technology into the content areas to serve as members of a Neal Technology Learning Community. Teachers will be asked to model lessons integrating technology and serve as technology mentors for those who are less proficient.	· Master Teacher · Classroom Teachers
Create a school blog titled: Becoming a Digital Citizen	The purpose of this blog will be to not only provide an additional opportunity for collaboration, but to promote the use of technology. We will use this blog as a source for reflection, sharing of lessons, soliciting advice, etc. regarding integrating technology into the content areas.	· Master Teacher · Teachers
EVALUATION
Measure	Description	Timeline
Classroom walk-through observations/Formal evaluations	Principal, Master teachers, and Campus Technology Instructional Specialist will be looking for increased integration of technology during walk-through observations and evaluations.	Ongoing
Technology Self-Assessment	Teachers will complete technology self-assessment to show increased level of proficiency as a result of completion of District Differentiated Professional Development Plan.	May 2010
Blog Participation	Master teacher will monitor blog participation.	Ongoing
Teacher Self-Reflection	Teachers will be asked to reflect over attainment of the two technology SMART goals that they developed.	May 2010
Project Tomorrow Speak-Up Survey	Teachers, students, parents complete online survey	February 2010
2009-2010 STaR Chart Data	Teachers complete online STaR Chart	August 2010

Using the STaR Chart to Identify Neal's Technology Needs

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

S Ta R Chart Presentation

View more presentations from JuanitaCollins.

Focusing on Teaching and Learning

The STaR Chart area that is our area of focus this year is Teaching and Learning. The other areas are important, but the purpose of the technology Long-Range Plan is to ensure that our students acquire the technology skills necessary to compete and succeed in the 21^st Century. Without the teaching and learning of the required technology student expectations, our students will not be proficient. We can ensure that essential technologies are available, that professional development is appropriate and needs based, that administration provides appropriate support, but it is impossible for us, as instructional leaders, to be in every classroom all the time. The target tech level for Teaching and Learning requires that:

· The teacher to serve as facilitator, mentor and co-learner.

· Students have on-demand access to all appropriate technologies to complete activities that have been seamlessly integrated into all core content areas.

· All technology Applications TEKS are met K-8.

· High school campuses offer all Technology Applications courses ad teach at least 4 courses.

As I analyzed our campus’ STaR Charts from the last three years, it was disappointing to see that our level of progress in Teaching and Learning had decreased from Advanced Tech to Developing Tech. This does not correlate with state and national trends. As I compared the 2007-2008 and 2006-2007 Campus Statewide Summary, it showed that the number of schools at Early Tech and Developing Tech levels had decreased while the number of schools at the Advanced Tech and Target Tech levels had increased. As I read the descriptors under the Target Tech level for Teaching and Learning, it was quite obvious where our campus is lacking. We have worked diligently on acquiring the needed technologies to ensure that our students have the essential learning opportunities needed to demonstrate proficiency. We have increased the number of COWs, Smart Boards, LCD projectors, etc. in an effort to eliminate the popular excuse, “I can’t integrate technology because we do not have the resources.” The resources are now available, but ironically, the level of progress in the area of Teaching and Learning has decreased. The problem is that our teachers have difficulties integrating technology into the content areas. Our students do spend a great deal of time on the computers, but they are usually working on skills practice or tutorial software.

In order to address this teacher need, I think it would be beneficial for our campus to create a Technology Learning Community. We could invite teachers who successfully integrate technology into the content areas to be a part of this learning community. We could then model lessons and provide examples of lesson plans that effectively integrate technology. I think providing a model would be an effective first step in the right direction.

Technology Applications TEKS - Spiraling to Ensure Mastery

The Pre-K technology applications are integrated into five domains in an effort to provide learning experiences that will develop a strong foundation for our students.

The Technology Applications TEKS are designed as a dynamic, spiraling curriculum. They are based on four strands: foundations, information acquisition, solving problems and communication. These strands remain consistent from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Basically, a student can always go back to reinforce the skill if needed. For example, the first student expectation in the Kindergarten–Grade 2 Technology Application TEKS states that the student will demonstrate knowledge and appropriate use of hardware components, software programs and their connections. That first student expectation reads the same in the Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8 Technology Application TEKS. This skill is revisited year after year to ensure mastery. The specific expectations do increase in level as to remain grade appropriate. The expectation is that by 8th grade, our students will demonstrate proficiency in these areas.

Preparing our Students for the 21st Century

After thoroughly reading the Long-Range Plan, it is evident that it is our responsibility as educators to prepare our students to function in a society that is highly competitive and technology driven. This plan leaves no stone unturned describing in detail the need, the goals and expectations and recommendations for ensuring that we meet our goals. We must model what it is to be a lifelong learner, and honestly reflect over our practices in order to continue growing as an educator. We can no longer be the “sage on the stage.” We must facilitate learning, and expect for students to be more active participants in the learning process. We must ensure that technology is seamlessly integrated into the content areas, and that we are providing students with the opportunities to not only learn technology skills but also to evaluate, create and apply their learning.

As an instructional leader, it is imperative that I be aware of the Long-Range Plan. As it states in the Long-Range Plan, I must have a deep understanding of the expectations and requirements, I should model the use of technology, and I must ensure that implementation is taking place. This increased awareness will also help when planning the budget, planning professional development, analyzing curriculum and instruction, and creating the Campus Improvement Plan.

What Did I Learn from These Assessments?

As a current instructional leader and future administrator, I would have to say that the fact that I believe that it is imperative that we provide our students with the learning opportunities to not only develop technology skills but also to use technology to apply learning, evaluate and create is my greatest strength as a future technology leader. I am comfortable with technology for the most part, but I am not always up to date with the latest technology trends. As a future administrator, I would have to ensure that I actively continue my technology development in order to set the example for my teachers. I cannot expect my teachers to do what I am not doing.

After reflecting on the two technology skills assessments that I completed, I have to admit that I was not surprised at all by what the results showed. The first assessment, the Technology Applications Inventory, showed that I was proficient in my technology skills. The area that I seemed to lack confidence was in the “solving problems” section. The second assessment, SETDA, revealed some useful information. Because I am no longer a classroom teacher, I completed the building survey. It was quite obvious after completing this survey that we have room to grow in terms of technology on our campus. We do have a specific district technology plan in place with specific requirements at each grade level. The majority of this learning takes place in the Computer Lab. Unfortunately, our students are not always given the opportunity to develop and apply this new technology learning in the classroom. The majority of our students spend 1-2 hours on the computer per week, but most if this time is used for drill and practice tutorial software. Our students and teachers do have access to the latest technology, but we do not always take the time to integrate these technologies into our teaching. We are an elementary campus, and therefore, the majority of our teachers do not use technology to present instruction. Sometimes, they do incorporate the Smart board, videos from United Streaming or YouTube, but not daily. We do not assess students’ technology proficiency. This may be something that we should consider.

Our district is taking a new approach with technology professional development. At the beginning of the school year, we completed a technology assessment to determine our technology level. In previous years, we had on-site monthly technology professional development, but this year, our technology professional development is differentiated based on our technology level. I think that this is a step in the right direction. This provides us all with the opportunity to increase and build upon our current technology knowledge and skills.